Shots, explosions heard from major Ouagadougou hotel

Residents burn tires along a street in Ouagadougou.

Shots and explosions were on Friday heard coming from one of Ouagadougou's main hotels, according to an AFP journalist who saw three men firing at the scene.

A car was also on fire in front of the Splendid Hotel located in a busy, central area of the Burkina Faso capital and regularly used by United Nations staff and westerners.

The Cappuccino cafe-restaurant opposite the hotel, which is also popular with westerners, had also been targeted, a witness who spoke to AFP added.

Security forces were not yet on the scene.